MSG Hires Former League of Legends Esports Manager Nick Allen

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MSG Hires Former League of Legends Esports Manager Nick Allen

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The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) continues to expand its esports portfolio. Having acquired a controlling stake in Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) last month, the multi-billion dollar brand in traditional sports has now hired Nick Allen to head its esports division as vice president.

According to the official announcement, the industry veteran will be “responsible for driving the company’s efforts to expand its presence in the esports industry, with a primary focus on operating Counter Logic Gaming.”

Allen has been a major part of the competitive organizational crowd for years. He was originally an operations manager at IGN Entertainment, where he helped create the IGN ProLeague for StarCraft II and League of Legends, before joining Riot Games as esports operations manager in 2013. Allen then moved to Twitch a couple of years later as vice president of esports to oversee global viewership growth.

During his time at Riot Games, Allen was notable for announcing penalties and fines to players and teams participating in the League Championship Series (LCS). He was infamous for stringing multiple fines for CLG, which makes it a bit ironic to see him now fill the role of chief operating officer for the esports organization.

MSG owns the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the New York Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL). It also owns its own venue by the same name–Madison Square Garden, which was used to host the Summer Split finals of the 2015 North American League Championship Series (LCS) that was incidentally won by Counter Logic Gaming itself.